Forum upgrade on Sunday, 4/26



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Faulkner
Posts: 5031
Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2004 6:59 pm
Location: Upper Darby, PA
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Forum upgrade on Sunday, 4/26

Post by Faulkner »

No need to read the rest of this post unless you like gory technical details! Suffice it to say, the Forum will be down briefly tomorrow for an upgrade.

The latest version of phpBB requires V7.2 of the PHP programming language. We had been running the current version of the Forum with V5.6 of PHP - but the Gallery doesn't work with V7.2, because the database interface is different. So I had been stuck. If I upgrade the Forum, I break the Gallery.

I found an emulator that permits programs - like Coppermine, on which the Gallery is based - to think it is using the old interface, when actually it is using the new! So we're now on V7.2 of PHP, and the Gallery continues to work. Now I can upgrade the Forum - and I can start doing a lot of things I've been wanting to do, but need for the phpBB upgrade to happen. One is to reorganize the Showcase, where I can add owners as "Topics" instead of their own separate Forum. It means fewer clicks for users, and makes my job of adding new content much easier. You'll see when we get there!

Of course, I eventually intend to move all of the Gallery content into the Forum, so there's one-stop-shopping; Ron Keij and I put the Gallery together before I adapted the Forum for a gallery style. But if you haven't visited the Gallery, it's amaaaaaaaazing to see all the content that Ron put in there! I can't wait to add it to the Forum. Check it out here.

If there's one good thing about the coronavirus, it's that it's given me time to program. I hope the Forum will be better than ever, and that you will agree. And I hope you get to spend time enjoying your '59's! In the end, that's what it is all about.
"If it's new, Plymouth's got it!"
User avatar
Faulkner
Posts: 5031
Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2004 6:59 pm
Location: Upper Darby, PA
Contact:

Re: Forum upgrade on Sunday, 4/26

Post by Faulkner »

OK, the Forum has been upgraded. As you were!
"If it's new, Plymouth's got it!"
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